Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Rick Altergott: A Young Man Cracked 1986-1988

I previously posted a few early pieces from Dan Clowes when he produced work for Cracked Magazine which can be found here. Below are comics from the same time period produced by Rick Altergott.

Rick Altergott may not be a familiar name to most, but for those who read alternative rags (that's what I call them, it's hip) in the 90's, he was this cartooning genius that had an off-kilter sense of humor and...kinda drew like Wally Wood? I first became AWARE of him through the letters pages in Clowes' comic Eightball. Clowes and he were old friends and had published a fanzine together (along with Mort Todd) in the early 80's called Psycho. By this time he was self-publishing his own mini comic called Doofus, which Clowes was plugging in the pages of Eightball at the time. I stressed "aware" earlier because even though I was reading comics he was drawing in the late 80's in the pages of Cracked, I really didn't pay much attention to his style. I suppose it didn't help that he was mainly drawing the TV parodies, which were my least favorite part of the magazine. Looking back on the stories, Altergott truly had chops and his style is right there. I ordered Doofus #2 a few years later and was an instant convert. This guy had chops and a great sense of humor. And he kinda drew like Wally Wood? Yeah, he did. He channeled Wood's style yet he made it his own. Wayne Howard, eat your heart out.

So yeah. Enjoy a few early works from Rick Altergott. And if you feel so inclined, check out his later superior work. For the past few years, he's been providing strips for Vice which can be found here. You should also go buy back issues of Raisin Pie, which lasted 5 issues from 2002-2007 and was a collaboration with his wife Ariel Bordeaux, an equally talented cartoonist in her own right.

Doofus #1 1992 Self Published

The Doofus Omnibus 2002

Raisin Pie #1 2002

And just for the heck of it, a Marvel Comics cover from 1994. Curse of the Weird #2. Edited by Mort Todd.